Government hopeful of breaking parliament logjam: Venkaiah Naidu

Hyderabad: The Narendra Modi government was hopeful of breaking the parliament logjam after Monday’s all-party meeting and move forward, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said on Sunday.

“Tomorrow (Monday), I have called an all-party meeting and hope the meeting will be fruitful and we will be able to resolve the issues and move forward,” he said.

As the first two weeks of the ongoing monsoon session were washed out amid protests by the opposition over the Lalit Modi and Vyapam issues, Naidu appealed to the Congress to let both houses of parliament function.

“I appeal to the Congress: Please do not hurt the interests of the country. Let us not indulge in a blame game. Come to parliament; let us discuss it,” Naidu said.

The minister said no minister had “not done anything wrong, nothing illegal or immoral”.

“We are ready to discuss any issue to any length…government is always ready to walk an extra mile to accommodate the view(s) of the opposition, if their request is fair,” he said.

The union minister said there was no substitute for a healthy debate in parliament.

“If you want democracy to succeed and if you want people’s aspirations to be highlighted, then the only way is you raise them in parliament. And if you want to criticise the government, you can criticise it also,” Naidu said.

The monsoon session of parliament, that began July 21, has so far not been able to transact any major business due to repeated adjournments. It is scheduled to last till August 13.

Some opposition parties, led by the Congress, have been creating ruckus over alleged help extended to former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, and on the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh in which over 40 people have died under mysterious circumstances and the Supreme Court has handed over the probe to the CBI.

The Congress party is demanding resignation of Swaraj, Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan before allowing parliament to function smoothly.